Our open shelf collection in the Business & IP Centre is designed to be of practical use to those who need information to start up or run businesses in the UK. It is aimed in particular towards business start-ups and SMEs.
The main areas of coverage are the manufacturing, wholesale trading, retailing and distribution aspects of major industrial and services sectors in the UK.
We have:
- national and regional trade directories covering specific industries and sectors – (B) DIR
- a selection of different publications that give information on existing and emerging markets, industries and businesses – (B) MKT
- general periodicals aimed at practicing business people, either industry-specific or discussing business in general – (P)
- a selection of “how to do” guides covering all aspects of starting a business. They are arranged by sectors such as Marketing e.g. SBH.MKT.01 and Finance e.g. SBH.FIN.01
- a section with all the entries from the last Management Book of the Year competition, a partnered event between the British Library and the Chartered Management Institute – MBOY
There are also volumes to help researchers discover and access historical patents and trade marks, including:
- name and subject patent indexes for Britain, the US, France, and Germany
- reports of patent cases
- abridgment volumes covering English and British patents, from 1617-1930
- the trade marks journal on microfilm (1876-1976; No. 1-5235).
More recent guides on IP, as well as select IP journals, are also to be found on the open shelves in the BIPC.